February 13, 2016 Saturday after Ash Wednesday 1st Reading: Is 58:9b–14 Gospel: Lk 5:27–32
Jesus noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax-office, he said to him, “Follow me.” So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed Jesus. Levi gave a great feast for Jesus, and many tax collectors came to his house and took their place at table with the other people. Then the Pharisees and their fellow teachers complained to Jesus’ disciples, “How is it that you eat and drink with tax collectors and other sinners?” But Jesus spoke up, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I have come to call to repentance; I call sinners, not the righteous.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Salvation is not a done deal! When Jesus said, “I have come to call to repentance; I call sinners, not the righteous” (Luke 5:32), he established repentance as a continuing requirement for people to avail of the fruits of salvation. By repentance we are not referring to that fleeting emotional feeling of regret over past deviant actions or omissions but to the firm resolve to dethrone the self and enthrone God in one’s life.
By making repentance a continuing requirement, God humbly submitted his Holy Will to human will. The Will of God that all should be saved is now subject to the unhampered exercise of human freedom. Isn’t God submitting his omnipotence to human will? In a way, Yes! But he cannot take back the gift of freedom he has bestowed upon human beings. God is a faithful one. When he gives, he gives for good.
Thus when one turns away from God in freedom, he arrogates unto himself immunity from divine reprisal if any. But we know who stands to lose in this kind of arrangement. While God will not become a lesser God by losing a defiant sinner, man cannot go on without God.
Good for sinners, God is not the take-it-or-leave-it type of savior. The contrary would have damned us for good because repentance denied is salvation declined, and salvation declined is damnation assured.
How nice of God to leave open the doors of salvation even to hardened sinners who might come to repentance any time. Through his Church God continues to reach out to the lost sheep. When any deviant sheep decides to return to the fold, all he needs to do is comply with the requirement of repentance.
It cannot be disputed that God could very well make salvation automatic. But he prefers to treat us with dignity. Out of respect for human freedom he prefers to get us actively involved lest we just stand passive like spoiled brats expecting a platter of salvation served as a done deal.—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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